As Fate Would Have It
by Sargaetorian
Summary: Coincidentally, the day that Sasuke's life began spiraling out of his control was also the day he realized that he was in love. Maybe that one night stand was a bad idea, after all. Business AU. Sasunaru.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Guess who's finally back! Sorry if this seems a bit rushed, I'm awfully out of practice (only myself to blame!)

**Many thanks to my wonderful muse, TheGodlyObserver, even though sometimes she's rather dorky!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Thank GOD, after that horrible and unsatisfactory ending.

**Warnings:** Implied smut. Foul language. TONS of work jargon.

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><p><strong>As Fate Would Have It: Chapter One<strong>

So what was Naruto doing at a club at almost one in the morning, his head buzzing pleasantly from the alcohol he'd drunk earlier with flashing lights and pounding music rattling his brains out, the day before his new job at one of the most influential companies in the world?

That's what he wanted to know, too.

He knew he'd regret it later, and maybe it was the alcohol speaking, but at the moment he didn't care. He needed a way to get the immense pressure and stress off his shoulders, and this seemed like the best way to do it.

While he was sitting on one of the worn leather couches, looking bleary-eyed at his phone, a shadow suddenly blocked the lights in front of him. Naruto looked up questioningly when the shadow didn't move, and he was faced with a tall man dressed in an oddly formal manner for a nightclub. The lights weren't strong enough to illuminate his face, but it was enough to show off the arrogant smirk on his lips.

The man stepped to the side and sat down next to Naruto, crossing his legs in a fluid motion and stretching his arm along the back of the couch. "Hey there," he spoke confidently, his voice a sultry, baritone rumble. "What's your name?"

Now that he was sitting next to Naruto, the lights illuminated the side of his face with a soft pink glow, throwing all of his features into sharp definition. Naruto could feel himself turning red as he trailed his eyes along the man's jaw, unable to tear his eyes away. "Shouldn't you tell me yours first?" he countered, pleased that it came out just as smoothly.

"Fair enough." The smirk widened. "I'm Sasuke."

Naruto didn't quite catch the name above the beat of the music and the loud dancers, but he nodded anyways. "I'm Naruto."

"So, Naruto," Sasuke purred, the name rolling off his tongue like silk, "what's a nice looking guy like you doing in a nightclub like this?"

"Stress relief," Naruto told him, suppressing a slightly tired yawn. "First day at the job tomorrow, you know?"

"Even more of a reason not to be here." The man raised one arched eyebrow, his eyes glinting mischievously. "With that being said, I'm a terrible hypocrite, so would you like to get a drink or two?"

"As long as you pay," Naruto replied, getting up from the couch and putting his phone in his back pocket.

"If you insist."

* * *

><p>After the man-what was his name, Sousuke? Yeah, he'd go with that- ordered them the strongest drinks the bartender had to offer, Naruto felt himself getting more and more drunk by the second, his speech becoming slurred while Sousuke's stayed as clear and smooth as ever; but then again, he didn't have as many drinks as Naruto.<p>

They'd spent a good half hour talking, but Naruto still knew next to nothing about his companion. It was unsurprising, since Naruto doubted either of their motives was to make a new friend. Most of their conversation was suggestive flirting that had gotten less and less innocent as their drinking progressed. Now, there was a mix of flirting and touching, light brushes of their arms and occasionally presses of their legs together.

He wasn't sure when, but eventually Sousuke had asked Naruto if he needed a ride home, since Naruto was clearly in no state to drive. Naruto accepted, and after a slightly awkward drive, Naruto found himself being pushed up to the door of his apartment, his mouth being ravaged while he searched in his pockets for his keys. He clumsily unlocked the door with one hand, the other holding the back of Sousuke's neck.

They stumbled into Naruto's apartment after he pushed open the door, still kissing and groping each other. Naruto didn't bother to take off his shoes, but Sousuke kicked his off anyways. They stumbled toward Naruto's room and tripped onto his bed, soft grunts and moans breaking the otherwise complete silence, the bedsprings squeaking loudly as Naruto collapsed on the sheets with Sousuke on top of him, never breaking the kiss.

What happened next was a blur. Both of them stripped and then crawled further on to the bed. The alcohol made him unable to focus on more than one thing at once, and the scent of the other man's cologne was _definitely_ not helping matters. His ears were assaulted with grunts, moans, and pants-he wasn't sure who was making which sound anymore-and the sound of skin slapping against skin. His vision was hazy, spinning a bit, but he could just barely make out Sousuke's flushed cheeks and smoldering eyes. All he could feel was pleasure, dulled a little bit from his state of mind, but it felt incredible nonetheless, spreading from his lower region to his fingertips and then to his toes.

Neither of them lasted very long before them collapsed in a sweaty, exhausted heap. Naruto pressed one last kiss to his partner's neck, and he received one to his temple in return. He rolled off Naruto and grabbed a couple of tissues from the box Naruto always kept on his night stand, wiping them both until they were relatively clean before tugging the covers over both of them. The only things Naruto could hear before he fell asleep were the pounding of his heart and a slight ringing in his ears.

* * *

><p>The next morning when his alarm went off, Naruto sat up and stretched luxuriously after smacking the snooze button. Mid-stretch, however, he stopped abruptly and clutched at his head, moaning in pain as it sunk in that he was having a killer hangover. How much had he had to drink last night…? He could barely remember anything, besides the fact that he'd had really good sex with a handsome stranger-<p>

Naruto looked around the bed; the sheets were rumpled and tossed aside on one half.

'_I guess that means he already left,'_ Naruto thought, with a twinge of disappointment. He muttered a curse as his head throbbed again and got out of bed, heading to the bathroom to grab a bottle of Ibuprofen and then to the kitchen for a glass of water.

He glanced at the oven clock while he was washing the pills down, and immediately spluttered.

"Shit! I'm going to be late!"

He made a mad dash back to the bathroom, hangover forgotten, and jumped into a cold shower, emerging freshly washed in less than five minutes. Brushing his teeth so roughly that he swore he could taste blood, he ran to his closet to pick out the outfit he was going to wear.

'_What was the dress code, again?' _He thought frantically, riffling through the shirts and pants with his free hand. '_It just said formal, didn't it?'_

With that thought in mind, Naruto yanked a pair of black slacks and a white dress shirt from their hangers, hastily pulling them on while trying to prevent toothpaste from dripping out of his mouth. Getting fed up with the immense difficulty of the tasks, he rushed back to the sink with his shirt unbuttoned and his belt unbuckled and spit out the toothpaste, leaning under the stream of water to rinse his mouth off. Drying his face off and buttoning his shirt with flying fingers, he reached for his orange tie, but then thought better of it. It was his first day, after all; he wanted to make a _really_ good first impression with his boss. So instead, he grabbed his dark blue tie and a blazer of the same shade, snatched up his messenger bag, gave his yawning cat a quick scratch behind the ear, and ran out the door.

After a fifteen minute subway ride, Naruto found himself walking up the granite steps to Uchiha Corporations, his hangover subsiding, but anxiety replacing it. He'd never even dreamed of working for a company this big and well-known before.. Before pushing open the glass doors, Naruto checked his reflection quickly and ran a hand through his hair, even though he knew it would make no difference to the messy locks. Tugging on the lapels of his blazer, he steeled himself and took a deep breath before taking his first step into the building.

When he walked in, the first thing that struck him was how gigantic and professional the main office looked. The reception desk was huge, pristine, and made of what looked like mahogany, sanded and polished to perfection. On either side, there were elevators with gold doors that looked like they could blind him if the sun happened to shine on the doors, and the floor was carpet with a wide strip of marble tiles in the center, leading to two hallways on either side of the room. There were a few chairs, couches, and desks decorating the rest of the room, and tall, exotic looking plants were placed here and there, and there was a row of lights hanging above him, but the building had so many glass windows that the lights seemed more for decoration than for use.

One of the receptionists, a friendly-looking blonde girl with pale blue eyes and a shirt that hugged her curvy figure, smiled at him as he walked nervously up to the granite-topped desk.

"Hi! How may I help you?" She asked, her voice assuaging Naruto's nerves.

"Good morning!" Naruto put on a grin. "I'm a new hire, so do you think you can direct me to the HR department?"

"Of course!" The girl's long bangs slipped out from behind her ear, and she tucked it back in its place delicately. "Just take the elevator on the left up to the eleventh floor and it should be directly on your right."

"Ah, thank you so much," he leaned over the counter a bit to read her nametag, "Ino!"

"You're welcome!" Ino beamed at him, and Naruto made a mental note of who she was before heading to the elevator.

Pushing the button, he waited a few seconds for the doors to open, adjusting his bag on his shoulder and rolling up the sleeves of his blazer to his elbows. Now that he was alone, he felt nervousness creep through his stomach and felt his heartbeat elevate. His previous experiences with Human Resources had _not_ been pleasant.

When the doors finally dinged open, a tall young man with glossy black hair stepped out, barely sparing Naruto a glance before briskly walking away. Naruto watched him go, stirrings of uneasiness beginning to fill his mind. For some reason, what he'd seen of the man's face looked strangely familiar.

Shrugging it off, Naruto let out a yelp as the elevator doors began to close and quickly stuck out a hand to hold the door. The inside was just as polished as the outside, and the floor was lined with a plush red carpet. He punched the button for the eleventh floor, leaning against the railing and taking another deep breath as the elevator rose smoothly.

When the elevator stopped and the doors opened once more, Naruto found himself on quite possibly the quietest floor he'd ever been on. The carpet muffled his footsteps and the silence felt like it was pressing on his eardrums. When he reached the office with "Human Resources Department" written in white upon the glass doors, the same branding replicated in metal letters and fused onto a frame that displayed the letters proudly above his head, he tried to open the door as quietly as possible, thanking the heavens when it opened without a squeak.

Another receptionist looked up at him when he entered, giving him a tight smile. She had wavy black hair and strangely red eyes that didn't quite seem to focus on him. "Your name, please?"

"Naruto Uzumaki. I'm a new hire." Naruto looked around apprehensively; the place reminded him of a doctor's office.

"Wonderful. Do you have your papers ready?"

"Right here," Naruto replied, pulling out a file folder from his bag.

The woman flipped through the papers quickly before handing the folder back to him. "Just go through that door and take a left, and you'll end up at Ibiki's office. He's the one who will be handling your orientation."

"Alright, thank you!" Naruto put the folder back in his bag and followed the woman's directions, opening the door and turning into a narrow hallway and taking the first left he could. He ended up at a sturdy looking door, the plaque on it reading, 'Ibiki Morino.' He raised his hand to knock, but before he'd even hit the door once, it opened.

He was met with a tall and intimidating man, who was easily over six feet tall, and who wore a bandana on his head. Naruto thought he looked like a thug straight off the streets, especially since he had two noticeable scars on his face: one on his right cheek, and one on his left, starting from his temple, barely missing his eye, and splitting through his lip.

"Uh, hi!" Naruto cringed inwardly at how shaky his voice sounded and stuck out a hand. "My name's Naruto, and I heard that I'm going to be with you for orientation?"

The man grabbed Naruto's hand, eliciting a startled choking noise from Naruto as his hand was suddenly crushed in a vicelike grip. "Ibiki Morino," he introduced himself in a flat, gravelly voice.

Naruto was wheezing in pain by the time Ibiki released his hand and motioned for him to come in and sit down in front of his desk. He shook out his fingers and followed the man, trying not to let him see the pained expression on his face.

"So," Ibiki started as Naruto situated himself, "Welcome to Uchiha Corporations. Our mission is to design and create new, breakthrough technology advancements through imagination and innovation. In other words, we're the world's largest and most influential conglomerate electronics business corporation, specializing in both electronics and entertainment. Our headquarters are situated in Tokyo, Japan, and are supervised by Itachi Uchiha, the man who started this corporation. Here, our employee count is quite a bit smaller, at around 48,500 employees, supervised by Itachi's younger brother, but that does not mean that our customs and missions are any less different than those at HQ." He said all of this as if he'd recited it a thousand times before, which Naruto didn't doubt he had.

"I assume you got all your paperwork done?"

Naruto started. "Yes, I have," he returned as he dug through his bag once more to find the folder.

Ibiki took it and flipped through quickly in the same manner as the lady at the reception desk had, his eyes skimming through almost lazily before setting the papers down. "Well, I'll have you know now that almost all of those forms are near useless." He gave a shadow of a smile at Naruto's barely repressed groan, which surprised Naruto, but he'd spent hours poring over the forms and trying to make sense of them that his surprise couldn't match his exasperation.

The next hour or so minutes was a flurry of signing papers and quickly reviewing other standard procedures, such as emergency evacuation, benefit plans, and corporate policy. It was a lot of information to take in, and Naruto was seriously beginning to regret not bringing a notebook to jot down notes, but Ibiki handed him a printed copy of the policies, which Naruto took gratefully. Almost an hour and a half in, Ibiki began reviewing the administrative procedures with him. Much of his jargon flew over Naruto's head, but Naruto made note of the security, telephone, and computer systems, login information, and required supplies on the back of the printed policies. When Ibiki was finished talking, he opened a drawer in his desk and took out a lanyard, clipping what Naruto assumed to be his ID and badge onto it. After handing it over, Naruto was pleased to note that Ibiki had given him an orange lanyard. Maybe the fact that he'd chosen to take notes in orange pen had tipped Ibiki off.

After Naruto had put the badge on proudly, Ibiki stood and walked around the desk with heavy footfalls to him. Naruto noticed that he had a slight limp, but before he could think more of it, Ibiki had grabbed the blonde's blazer, roughly smoothing it out and straightening his tie.

"Our supervisor and vice president makes it a personal policy of his to meet with each employee hired, and you are no exception. Fix that hair of yours while you wait here."

Naruto nodded obediently, too timid to mention that his hair was naturally messy; he couldn't do a thing to fix it. After what seemed to be five minutes, Naruto not even daring to slouch in his chair with such a powerful figure coming to meet him, his breath caught in his throat when there came three sharp raps at the door and the tall man Naruto had seen coming out of the elevator opened the door and stepped in, letting it click shut behind him. He strode toward Naruto, who stood at his approach, and held out his hand imperiously.

"Remind me of your name?"

There it was again: that unshakable feeling that he'd met this man somewhere before. "Naruto Uzumaki, sir." He took the hand and shook it firmly.

"Sasuke Uchiha." The finely groomed eyebrows met at the middle for a brief second. "Pardon me, but have we, perhaps, met before…?"

Naruto stared at him, taken aback, still holding the supervisor's hand. "Wait a second…"

He knew he'd had a one night stand last night; that part was no question. He'd gotten drunk, that part was also obvious, since he never could hold his liquor well. The name of the man he'd slept with was on the tip of his tongue, when his mind suddenly flashed back to when he was sitting on a couch, joined by another man, the strobe lights illuminating his face-

"Holy shit!" Naruto didn't even bother to censor himself.

Sasuke's eyes widened in realization; their hands suddenly clenched tight and then pulled apart, hanging in fists at their sides.

"_You're that guy from last night!"_

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><p><strong>TBC<strong>

**A/N: **Oh boy, what have we gotten ourselves into?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait! Happy Holidays, I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years! Onto 2015, tell me what your resolutions were in a review if you care to!~

**Important A/N at the end of the chapter!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

Naruto stared at Sasuke with horror written all over his face, while the other stared back with only the faintest hint of recognition in his eyes. He could feel his face burning up in embarrassment and he suddenly had a strange yearning to strangle himself with his own tie. Whatever impression he'd wanted to make on his boss, this _definitely_ was not it.

Sasuke cleared his throat-a rather strangled sound-and mechanically recited, "Please watch your language in the workplace."

Naruto turned an even brighter shade of red. _That_ was what he was worried about?!

"I see you've been hired for the position of Sales?"

"Sales assistant, yes," Naruto replied, his voice about two octaves higher than usual.

"Excellent. Then you'll be working under Sai, one of our sales managers. If you'd follow me, I'd be happy to show you to your desk," Sasuke stated flatly, his voice implying that there was no option to decline his offer.

"Yes, sir," Naruto squeaked, snapping to attention and following close behind Sasuke as he led the pair out of the HR department and back to the elevator.

After waiting silently for a minute or two, the elevator doors dinged open and Sasuke led Naruto inside, pressing the button for Floor 7 and the button to shut the doors with two fingers. The temperature seemed to elevate by another fifteen degrees as it dawned on Naruto that he was in an extremely cramped space…

With the vice president of the entire corporation.

…The one that he had drunkenly slept with.

_Goddamn it,_ why was the ride taking so long?

Naruto stood on one side of the elevator, nervously fingering the end of his tie while Sasuke leaned against the railing on the other side, his arms crossed and his eyes fixed on the meter that displayed what floor they were on.

As the absolute silence began pressing on Naruto's eardrums, Sasuke spoke. It startled Naruto, even though Sasuke's words were quietly uttered. "Were you too lazy to brush your hair this morning? It looks exactly like it did last night when-"

"It's always like this," Naruto interjected loudly and frantically, drowning out the rest of Sasuke's sentence. "I can't really do anything to fix it."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, the ghost of a smirk on his lips. Naruto fumed silently as the elevator stopped smoothly, glaring at Sasuke's back as he led the pair out of the elevator, heading straight for a door and sliding his nametag against the screen of what seemed to be a scanner that was fixed in the wall until the door clicked open with a beep.

The first thing that hit him as Sasuke swung the door open was the noise.

As quiet as the HR department was, this floor was as loud as the department was quiet. There were six rows of desks, twelve computers on each, but most of the workers seemed to be sharing with the person next to them and discussing whatever was on the screen, while some were looking over others' shoulders. There seemed to be quite a few loud discussions going on at once, and Naruto looked around nervously as Sasuke led them to the two people who were arguing loudest of all.

"God, Kiba!" A man whose shirt was unbuttoned almost halfway down his chest was yelling at another worker with shaggy hair, red tattoos on his cheeks, and two pierced bars through his left eyebrow. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the back of Sasuke's head. What happened to the formal dress code?

"What?!" the other man-Kiba, was that his name?-shouted in a gruff voice. "What's wrong with it?"

"I told you, you can't cover the website in pictures of dogs and expect-"

"Sai," Sasuke said quietly, interrupting their admittedly comical fight.

"Yes, sir?" Sai snapped to attention, and Kiba silenced himself upon seeing the vice president.

"This is your new assistant. He'll be working under you for the time being."

Sai's eyes travelled to land on Naruto, looking him up and down.

"Good morning!" Naruto smiled, trying to seem as amicable as possible. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the new hire. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Sai held out his hand, nodding as Naruto shook it. "My name's Sai. I look forward to working with you."

"I'll get rid of him here, then," Sasuke said dismissively. "And Kiba, don't argue with your superiors."

Kiba blanched. "Y-yes sir," he stammered, staring after him as Sasuke walked away.

"Also," Sasuke declared loudly with his hand on the doorknob, silencing the rest of the room. "Keep the noise level to a low din, would you? I'm sure the people in Operations would appreciate it."

"So, new hire, huh?" Sai asked, his face completely emotionless.

"New hire?" A girl with spiky blonde pigtails perked her head up over her computer screen from the opposite end of the room, looking excitedly at Naruto with her green eyes.

"New hire!" Kiba confirmed, nodding at her.

Suddenly, everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing and was flocking over to circle around Naruto, some looking at him excitedly while others looked at him condescendingly.

"H-hi!" Naruto stammered, beginning to introduce himself for what felt like the millionth time that day. "I'm Naru-"

"He's so cute!" Another girl with her brown hair fixed in buns rushed over, putting an arm around Naruto's shoulders. "I can already tell we're going to get along!"

"Great," another man with sharp, slanted eyes and a bored look remarked, staring at Naruto lazily. "More baggage we have to drag around."

"This is Naruto," Sai announced, stepping in as the blonde girl with pigtails slapped the bored one round the head. "He's our new sales assistant as of today. Are there any free computers he can use?"

"There's a seat next to Gaara," Kiba piped up. "Everyone else is too scared to sit there," he added, pointedly gazing at a red haired man across the misshapen circle, who rolled his unusually pale green eyes and looked away.

"It's fine, I'll take any desk," Naruto said quickly. Gaara gave him a sideways glance, but looked away quickly when Naruto gave him a small smile.

"Alright, then. I trust that Sasuke gave you all the information you need?" Sai asked, yawning slightly.

"Yep, I'll be fine."

"Come to me if you have any questions, or you can ask your coworkers. When you're done settling in," Sai added as Naruto began moving toward his desk under the blonde girl's instruction, "your first order of business is to get me a cup of coffee."

Naruto could already feel the exasperation setting in. "Yes, sir."

"Excellent."

* * *

><p>The rest of the day consisted of Naruto learning the ropes, mostly by asking Kiba for help, and getting coffee for Sai. Seriously, how much coffee could one man drink in a day?<p>

At around noon, there was a lunch break, and most of the people in the department took off to the third floor, where Naruto learned that the cafeteria sold the best sandwiches he'd ever tasted. Upon getting back to their department, Sai poked his head around the door and asked Naruto for yet another cup of coffee.

Learning about the business itself was interesting enough, but the people that worked there were even more so. Kiba and Temari had been a tattoo artist and a body piercer respectively, working at the same parlor for almost two years before switching over to the corporation. Temari even flipped down her septum piercing, placing a finger to her lips as Naruto gasped and stared, starstruck, at it before she hid it back in her nose again. Shikamaru had graduated from one of the best colleges in the nation, majoring in computer sciences with a minor in business. Apparently, his father wanted him to start a business of his own, but Shikamaru had been too lazy. He and Temari had met when Shikamaru got his ears pierced.

Then came Gaara. No one really knew much about Gaara, not even Temari, who was Gaara's sister, as Naruto was shocked to learn. Gaara mainly kept to himself, but based on Gaara's reputation in the office, he was almost on par with Shikamaru on the intellectual level. They also had a third sibling named Kankuro, but he was working on a project in Japan at the moment. In fact, as Kiba told him, a good fraction of the American division was on business trips to the Japan headquarters.

Tenten, the pretty Chinese girl with her hair fixed in buns, was a national champion at karate before quitting her training and going to college to major in economics. Naruto had no doubt that a single blow from her would land him in the ER. The last person Naruto asked about was his manager, Sai.

"We don't talk about Sai," they had deadpanned. Therefore, Naruto came to the conclusion that, like Gaara, Sai was a walking mystery.

The entire department was extremely casual, and a lot smaller than Naruto had originally anticipated. The walls were painted red with the corporation logo on the walls, and the entirety of the rest of the room was black. Black floors, black desks, black, leather chairs, black computers. Naruto had to admit, though: the chairs were _really_ comfortable. When he checked periodically on the group, Sai often had to reprimand one of the workers-usually Kiba- to stop spinning childishly on the wheels of his chair.

Sitting next to Gaara was rather uneventful, despite Naruto's various attempts to get the redhead to warm up to him. Although the majority of the time, they were doing group work rather than individual work, Naruto still wanted to get to know him better. He seemed kind of lonely, and just a little bit sad. He did have a small red panda plushie on his desk that Naruto had admired from a distance, though. Perhaps that could be their icebreaker.

At around half past four, thirty minutes until when the employees were allowed to leave, Sasuke entered the department in search for Sai. After talking in hushed voices for a short period, he approached Naruto, whose palms immediately got sweaty as he looked for some way, any way, to get out of having a conversation with the influential figure. Seriously, it should've been illegal for a vice president to be so terrifying.

"How are you settling in?" he asked imperiously, his voice still as attractive as ever, but much colder.

"I'm settling in fine, yeah," Naruto squeaked, looking up at him from his seat.

"Got everything under control?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." Sasuke turned to leave. "It's good to know that you're settling in so fast, because this company does not tolerate any slacking off."

Naruto glared at Sasuke's back. How was it possible that _this_ was the same guy-

_No._ He was _not_ going to dwell on that anymore. It was in the past, and he was going to put it behind him. Far, _far_ behind him.

…_Fuck._

* * *

><p>"Hey, Naruto!"<p>

Naruto turned around, steps away from the front doors. The day was finally over, and although it was taxing and it wasn't anything like he'd imagined it would be, it was fun. He looked around to see who had called his name.

"Naruto!" Ino waved him over, grinning at him as he walked over. "How was your first day?"

"Fun, eventful, extremely odd," Naruto laughed. "The people are really cool, though."

"Didn't you say you were in Sales? There's tons of stories about that department. It's probably the department you'd least want to end up in, to be honest."

"Really?" Naruto asked curiously. "But it's pretty awesome in there. You get a lot more freedom than a lot of other places."

"Yeah, but Sasuke's always checking up on it, since it's the rowdiest department there is. This environment is pretty laidback, but you _really_ don't want to see Sasuke when he's angry, much less be the person he's angry at," she replied, shuddering.

"Yeah, I already have my own experiences with him," Naruto returned, laughing awkwardly. "Speaking of Sasuke, why does he have so much free time on his hands? I'd have thought being the vice president would have him locked up in his office all day."

"He technically should have a ton of work, but his older brother takes it almost all off his shoulders. I'm not too sure Sasuke likes it, though."

"Wow, seriously?" Naruto rested his chin on his hand, leaning against the reception desk. "I would _kill_ to not have any work to do."

"Eh, they're both overachievers. Sasuke doesn't like his brother always trying to do everything himself. It also doesn't help that Itachi is _way_ too overprotective. I'm pretty sure he has assistants to help with his workload, though, especially since has the time to take trips over here pretty frequently."

"I-is that so?" Naruto gulped at the thought of having to meet _the_ Itachi Uchiha.

"His next visit's actually in a couple weeks, I think. He's always there for the annual Christmas and New Year party Sasuke arranges." Ino blew her bangs out away from her face. "But anyways, how's your manager?"

"Sai? Er, I don't really know that much about him yet. He seems pretty distant, though. Also, he drinks an absurd amount of coffee."

"Sai? _Distant?_" Ino laughed. "Maybe he just isn't used to you yet, because Sai is the biggest pervert I have ever had the misfortune of meeting."

"What?! Are you sure you have the right person?" Naruto stared at her incredulously. "I've never even seen him crack a grin!"

"Oh, just wait," Ino cackled. "There's a reason why no one ever keeps the position of Sales Assistant here."

Naruto kept staring at her, his entire body appearing to droop. "I don't believe you."

"You will."

"I don't _want_ to believe you." Naruto ran his fingers through his hair. "You can't be serious! He looks and acts just as frigid Sasuke does!"

"Oh, but Sasuke isn't completely innocent either. He's known for going to clubs a lot, probably for stress relief." Ino frowned thoughtfully. "Although, I can't remember him ever _doing_ anything, if you get my drift. And this stuff usually gets around pretty fast here."

Immediately, Naruto began to feel dread form in the pit of his stomach. "He looks like the kind of guy that would have women lining up around the block, to be honest." God, _why did the conversation have to take this turn?_

"Nope, I'm pretty sure he's never had any one night stands in at least six years. Sasuke might be a player, but he does have boundaries and morals. If he ever did anything with anyone, it would either be because he has a really strong relationship with them, or because he thinks someone is _really_ attractive, in more than one way."

Oh god, his face was turning bright red, wasn't it?

"He'd also probably be the kind of guy that would try to pursue a relationship with anyone that he did fine attractive-"

"Ino, quit gossiping." A new voice suddenly rang out, and Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief as he was saved from the conversation by this heaven-sent angel, this-

"Sasuke?!" he yelped in horror.

Said man looked at him with narrowed eyes and crossed arms, and Naruto suddenly felt two inches tall, despite being of almost the same height.

"What's with that look? Aren't you supposed to be going home now?"

"Oh-yeah, sorry, just thought I'd have a little chat with some of my coworkers first," Naruto apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "I'll be going now, then, since I've got some stuff to do anyways. I'll see you two tomorrow!" Naruto attempted to smile cheerfully and then turned tail for the exit.

"You forgot your bag."

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. _Oh my god,_ he thought furiously, _I'm a fucking idiot._ Before he could turn around for the walk of shame to retrieve it, he felt a heavy thunk on his head.

"Dumbass."

The bag was then shoved into his arms before Sasuke strode away, and Naruto found himself rubbing his head, slightly confused at what had just transpired.

From across the room, Ino burst into a fit of giggles. "Yeah, he _definitely_ likes you," she called.

Naruto tsked and then waved. "See you tomorrow! And sorry for getting you in trouble, it was my fault."

"Not at all! Get home safely!"

* * *

><p>Apparently, Naruto was extremely bad at following directions, because on his way home he nearly walked off the platform of the subway station. After around twenty minutes, he was kicking off his shoes, and loosening his tie, grabbing his orange tabby and chuckling at its indignant meow as Naruto collapsed on his bed.<p>

"Hey, cat," he murmured, rolling onto his back and scratching behind the cat's soft ears. It purred contentedly, settling on top of his stomach. Naruto sighed, scooting further up the bed with his heels while trying not to disturb the animal too much until his head was resting on the pillows. The cat's name was Kurama, but for convenience, Naruto either called it 'cat' or 'Kyuu.'

Stretching luxuriously, he laughed as Kurama let out a sound of protest at the absence of his scratching, so he pulled the cat up to his chest and planted a kiss on its head. The room was dark, since Naruto hadn't bothered to turn the lights on, and although it was still quite early, the darkness and the warmth from Kurama began lulling his eyelids shut, when all of a sudden-

He sat up sharply, Kurama jolting awake and thrown into his lap. The cat hissed angrily and scampered off, suddenly leaving Naruto alone to his thoughts of…

Sasuke.

Dear lord, this was going to haunt him forever.

'_I am lying in a bed,' _he thought numbly, '_that I had sex with my boss in. I am such a fucking idiot.'_

He slumped back, hitting his head against the bedframe with a loud thump, but he barely felt it. He let out a loud groan, grabbing his other pillow and slamming it over his face in shame. He inhaled deeply, and instantly filled his nostrils with the smell of what was probably Sasuke's shampoo.

He exhaled sharply, as if the scent was poisonous, and let the pillow fall from his hands, since smelling Sasuke's scent on his bed was definitely not helping matters.

'_God, Naruto,'_ he thought to himself furiously, '_just deal with it and go to sleep. He's probably already forgotten about you, it'll all just blow over in a week.'_

Leaving no room for any rebuttals, he pulled the blankets over himself and rolled over, determined to get to sleep and start fresh tomorrow.

But, of course, his mind began wandering again, and it began replaying what Ino had said earlier.

'…_Because he thinks someone is really attractive, huh?'_

Sometime in the middle of the night, after hours of tossing and turning, Naruto decided that he was lonely without Kurama's company and grabbed his other pillow, hugging it to his chest and burying his face into the smell that eventually lulled him into a restless sleep.

**TBC...**

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Hey troopers! So, there are some things I have to address in this chapter. The updates for this story will not have a particular schedule to them, and I'm deeply sorry for that, but I simply cannot keep up with any strict schedules at the moment. However, I will try to pump out at least one chapter per month, and unless things get extremely bad (EXTREMELY) I will not abandon this story. Now, this brings me to another point: The quality of the writing. I've hit a writer's block at the moment. The storyline I had originally planned out seems tacky to me, which plays in to why I'll need more time to write out each chapter. There is a lot of pressure for me to make each chapter up to par with the previous chapter's quality, which is a responsibility that comes with writing and publishing it online. Even now, I am doubting the skill I have in writing in general, especially dialogue. All in all, I'm stuck. But don't worry, I'll think of something soon enough! You can feel free to PM me with ideas, though, I will gladly accept them. I wasn't able to get this out in time for Christmas, but I hope you all had a wonderful one, and thank you all for sticking with me C: See you guys soon!


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